Saturday 25 September 2010

Sightseeing today, we set out for Grouse Mountain, just north of downtown Vancouver. After much traffic (big city curse) and 90 minutes of travelling, we arrived at the base of the mountain. It’s busier than Lion’s Head on a Saturday in Cape Town with every gym bunny in Vancouver donning trail shoes to run up the 1300m high mountain. You can even clock in and record your time!

We decided to take the easy route and squished into a cable car with one hundred other people to head up to the peak station. Being short and in the middle of the car, my view was of everybody around me, but it made the view from the top all the more spectacular. The outlook over the sea, the bay with the large inlets and the city of Vancouver below with many mountains on the horizon was just awesome. It truly is a beautiful city and reminded me a lot of Cape Town. The weather is also similar, lots of rain and not much snow, but this is a more broken and jagged coastline.

We then took a chair lift to the summit of the mountain and marveled at the huge wind generator on the top that is complete with viewing pod 20 storeys up. We enjoyed more beautiful views on the other side of the mountain away from the city  and enjoyed a nature walk: a very amusing lumber jack show and watching a couple of huge grizzly bears that were orphaned as cubs and now live in the wildlife refuge up here. They have a large area to roam in complete with rocks, forest and small lake, but I still prefer seeing them in the wild.

The Future ……..

Here ends this tale of our journey as from here it’s more about chores and job hunting than sightseeing and looking forward to what the future holds. For all of you who keep asking me when we are coming home, here’s a brief summary of our plans for the next few weeks.

On Wednesday 29 September we fly to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA to attend the church general conference – what a special opportunity and on Monday 4 October we return to Toronto for a week. We will spend some time back in Niagara with Liam’s relatives. On 12 October we fly to Ireland for a quick week there and we arrive in SA on Wednesday 20 October, glad to be home and hopefully to sleep in the same bed for longer than a week and have our clothes in a cupboard! Ah the luxuries of life!

This has been the adventure of a lifetime and a blessed opportunity. We have climbed mountains; canoed across lakes and up rivers; jumped off cliffs, swam in icy waters with strange creatures, seen every kind of bear that Canada has to offer, black, white and brown and grown richer for our experiences. We come home with a trunk full of memories and many dreams fulfilled. Thanks to all our beloved family and special friends that have shared this adventure with us.

Friday 24 September 2010

Back to civilization and the start of our journey back east, we left Campbell River today and caught the ferry across to Vancouver City where we spend our next few days. Unfortunately low cloud and rain did not allow us to see the beautiful mountains and scenery that Vancouver is renowned for, but there is always tomorrow.

View of Vancouver from on top of a mountain.

Thursday 23 September 2010

We decided that a fitting way to end this trip would be to give back something to this beautiful country that we have spent the last 5 months exploring. The church as part of the Campbell River community held a beach cleanup this evening, so despite the rain and cold, we went along to participate. We spent an hour or so picking up litter along the beach while the waves crashed in our ears a few feet away. It was hard to believe that this stormy sea was the same glassy body of water we had experienced the day of the whale watching tour!

After the cleanup we enjoyed some hot dogs and marshmallows cooked over a large campfire on the beach.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Off to explore the mountainous inland of the Vancouver Island today, we headed out from Campbell River to a one horse town called Gold River. This town was part of the gold rush all those years ago, but there is not much to it these days. However, we just wanted a scenic drive to explore the inland of this beautiful island. We passed many alpine forested mountains and lakes in the almost 2 hours it took to get to Gold River.

We then decided we had come this far and decided to brave the 64km winding logging gravel road to the west coast of the island passing Muchalat Bay and Tahsis on the Nootka Sound. This journey into the back of beyond was a real adventure complete with many black tailed deer and bald eagle sightings and a lone black bear cub. I wanted to follow him and see if he was really alone, but it’s too dangerous with the possibility of a protective mommy behind the next tree!

Coming into Muchalat Inlet, we saw hump back whale in the sea and were awed by the natural beauty of this inlet. Then it was onto Tahsis which is really a fishing village with a population of about 50 people. At least Liam got to dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean and we got as far west in Canada as possible. Then we started the long slow journey home, arriving after dark – that’s after 8pm at the moment. Our scenic drive had turned into a wilderness west coast quest and another adventure enjoyed.

Tuesday 21 September 2010 - Hunting for Whales

It’s boating time again! Today we are spending 8 hours on a zodiac to look for marine life and yes Orcas (Killer Whales). It has been my lifelong dream to see them in the wild. Arriving at the Campbell River Marina, we donned survival suits to protect from the wind and freezing water and grabbing the front seat – the windy, cold one, we set off full of anticipation.

Along Quadra Island we saw harbor seals basking in the sun and a pair of bald eagles as well as spotting a couple of porpoises before they disappeared under the water. AND THEN THE FOG CAME IN! We could see nothing for about an hour as we cruised through the mist, but it gave the adventure an eerie and mysterious feeling and accompanied a reflection calm sea surface. The skipper says he has never seen it so still.



Tuesday 21 September 2010 - Stunning Scenery

Tuesday 21 September 2010 - Dolphins Teeming

Every splash a dolphin and only 10% of school above water at any one time!

Coming out of the mist we came upon the largest school of dolphins imaginable. The water was just boiling with them as far as the eye could see. Over 200 Pacific White Sided Dolphins came out to play, darting in front of the bow and jumping through the wake at the back of the boat. Some of them kept jumping out of the water – SEE THE VIDEO CLIP!!! Liam and I lay over the bow of the boat and watched them in the clear water. Everytime they came up to breathe they splashed us with sea spray. They were so playful and fast – truly amazing creatures. We spent a long time having fun with them as they played with the boat.

 

Eventually we left them behind and a little further came across the smaller Hull’s Purpoises who also played along in the bow wave. They too were fast, but not as easy to see and they did not make as much of a spectacle above the water.

Tuesday 21 September 2010 - Bears and Hump Back Whales

Next we spotted a black bear foraging on the shore and went over to watch him for a while before continuing on.

After 4 hours in the boat, we stopped for lunch on a remote peninsula before heading north again to enter the Desolation Sound. Coming across a hump back whale we watched him for a while when he suddenly breached right out of the water. Very rare behavior for these waters, where the whales are mainly feeding and not mating or being playful as they are when they go further south. It was magnificent.

Hump Back Whale Tail!

Tuesday 21 September 2010 - Orcas, Beautiful Orcas

120km up we found the Killer Whales! There was a pod of about 8 whales quite spread out and a couple of large adults with huge dorsal fins. At first they were quite far away, but eventually they passed close by the boat. It was amazing to hear their communication via the hydrophone and to learn that the matriarch of this pod was born in 1947! Each family group has different communication ranges and that’s how researches identify them in the area. You could hear their breathing blows from a long distance away and I was just mesmerized. I have such respect and admiration for these awesomely beautiful creatures. These resident pods are salmon eaters and do not eat seals and other sea mammals like the transient orcas do. Eventually it was time to leave the area and return home.

Coming across the large school of dolphins again on the way back, they were having happy hour and doing sea world type antics and they jumped out of the water doing somersaults and jumps. SEE THE COOL VIDEO CLIP!! After 240km on the sea (that’s a very long way in a boat) and 8 hours in a zodiac, we returned home elated and exhausted.

Monday 20 September 2010

Setting off early in a boat bound for Bute Inlet on the mainland, north of Vancouver, we cruised by Quadra Island and many other inlets and islands. This coastline is so broken up by inlet and fjords; it is difficult to tell what is mainland and what is island. It was interesting to learn that north of Vancouver; there really is not much on the remote west coast of Canada.

I spent a lot of the trip outside at the back of the boat to view the towering green mountains, waterfalls and river inlets that we passed along our journey, but it was freezing with the wind chill.

After travelling about 32km up the Bute Inlet and passing a remote house and private beach owned by Michelle Pfeiffer, we docked at a pier and boarded a shuttle bus which drove us through the jungle forest to the Orde River. We were on a hunt for wild grizzly bears and this is their natural habitat! No sooner had we set out, than we came across our first grizzly. A beautiful adult that pretty much ignored us and ambled along the river bank. Our group huddled together watching this magnificent creature about 50m away from us.

Monday 20 September 2010

We spent the next few hours driving around the area and disembarking at special viewing platforms that have been erected along the river shore where the bears can safely be viewed from. We saw 8 different bears in total, but the highlight was a mother and her cub that spent much time near and across the river from us. We watched them cross the river on a fallen down tree; swim across the river when the small cub looked like he would be swept downstream by the current and mommy bear catch a salmon in the river for their meal. The other male bears we watched fishing were not so successful and we witnessed a couple of failed attempts. We learnt a lot about these wonderful creatures and it was awesome to observe these wild creatures in their natural habitat. They are not in captivity in anyway and this is an area where they occur naturally.

Monday 20 September 2010

On our long boat ride back to Oyster Bay, we saw a pack of Stellar Sea Lions. They are like 3 times the size of the seals we get in SA and are really huge with long teeth and whiskers. I got not get over how enormous they are and would love to see them out of the water.